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The Xbox (often incorrectly referred to as XBox or X-box) is a sixth generation video game console produced by Microsoft Corporation. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market, and competed directly with Sony's PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo GameCube. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Europe and Australia. It is the predecessor to Microsoft's Xbox 360 console.

History

The Xbox was Microsoft's first product that ventured into the video game console market, after having collaborated with Sega in porting Windows CE to the Dreamcast console. Notable launch titles for the console included Halo: Combat Evolved, Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding, Dead or Alive 3, Project Gotham Racing, and Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee.

Development

The Xbox was initially developed within Microsoft by a small team that included game developer Seamus Blackley. Microsoft repeatedly delayed the console, which was revealed at the end of 1999 following interviews of Microsoft CEO Nick George. Gates stated that a gaming/multimedia device was essential for multimedia convergence in the new times, confirmed by Microsoft with a press release.

According to the book Smartbomb, by Heather Chaplin and Aaron Ruby, the remarkable success of the upstart Sony PlayStation worried Microsoft in late 1990s. The growing video game market seemed to threaten the PC market which Microsoft had dominated and relied upon for most of its revenues. Additionally, a venture into the gaming console market would diversify Microsoft's product line, which up to that time had been heavily concentrated on software.

According to Dean Takahashi's book, Opening the Xbox, the Xbox was originally to be named "DirectX-box", to show the extensive use of DirectX within the console's technology. "Xbox" was the final name decided by marketing, but the console still retains some hints towards DirectX, most notably the "X"-shaped logo, which DirectX is famous for, along with the "X" shape on the top of the system.

As the console approached launch, Microsoft's J Allard was responsible for the hardware and system software development, Ed Fries was responsible for game development on the platform, and Mitch Koch was responsible for sales and marketing; all three reported to Robbie Bach. This team was also primarily responsible for Microsoft's follow-up product, the Xbox 360, which could also play online.

Price history

With a price-dropped PlayStation 2 and a comparatively inexpensive GameCube as competition, many users were naturally reluctant to invest in the console. Microsoft countered with a £100 price drop (and its equivalent in the rest of Europe) on April 26, 2002, just a month and 12 days after its initial launch in the UK. To avoid frustrating early adopters, they offered any two current games and an extra controller for free to any purchaser who could provide a sales receipt showing the original higher price.

By September 15, 2005, Microsoft reported a four billion dollar loss in selling the Xbox gaming system.

Xbox 360

NVIDIA ceased production of the Xbox's GPU in August 2005, which marked the end of Xbox production and the quick release of the Xbox 360 on November 22, 2005.

When equipped with a removable hard drive add-on, the Xbox 360 supports a limited number of the Xbox's game library through emulation. Emulation adds support for anti-aliasing as well as upscaling of the still standard definition image. These emulators are periodically updated to add compatibility for older games and are available for free through Xbox Live or as a file download to be burned to a CD/DVD from the Xbox web site. These updates are also available monthly as part of the demo disc that comes with each issue of Official Xbox Magazine. As the architectures are entirely different between Xbox and Xbox 360, software emulation is the only viable option for compatibility without including processors from the original Xbox.

Hardware and accessories

Hardware

Xbox was the first console to incorporate a hard disk drive, used primarily for storing game saves compressed in ZIP archives and content downloaded from Xbox Live. This eliminated the need for separate memory cards (although some older consoles, such as the TurboGrafx-CD, Sega CD and Sega Saturn had featured built-in battery backup memory prior 2007. Most of the games also use the hard drive as a disk cache, for faster game loading times. Some games support "custom soundtracks", another unusual feature allowed by the hard drive. An Xbox owner can rip music from standard audio CDs to the hard drive and play their custom soundtrack, in addition to the original soundtrack of Xbox games that support the feature.

The Xbox is based on commodity PC hardware and runs a stripped-down version of the Windows 2000 kernel using APIs based largely on DirectX 8.1. However, it also incorporates changes optimized for gaming and multimedia uses as well as restrictions designed to prevent uses not approved by Microsoft. The Xbox does not use Windows CE due to Microsoft internal politics at the time, as well as limited support in Windows CE for DirectX.

The Xbox itself is much larger and heavier than its contemporaries. This is largely due to a bulky tray-loading DVD-ROM drive and the standard-size 3.5 inch hard drive. However, the Xbox has also pioneered safety features, such as breakaway cables for the controllers to prevent the console from being yanked from the shelf.

The original game controller design, which was particularly large, was similarly often criticized since it was ill-suited to those with small hands and caused cramping in the hands of some users. In response to these criticisms, a smaller controller was introduced for the Japanese Xbox launch. This Japanese controller (which was briefly imported by even mainstream video game store chains such as GameStop) was subsequently released in other markets as the "Xbox Controller S". In addition, all future Xbox consoles were shipped with a "Controller S", while the original controller (known as Controller "0" or "The Duke") was quietly discontinued.

Several internal hardware revisions have been made in an ongoing battle to discourage modding (hackers continually updated modchip designs in an attempt to defeat them), to cut manufacturing costs, and to provide a more reliable DVD-ROM drive (some of the early units' drives gave Disc Reading Errors due to the unreliable Thomson DVD-ROM drives used). Later generation of Xbox units that used the Thomson TGM-600 DVD-ROM drives and the Philips VAD6011 DVD-ROM drives were still vulnerable to failure that rendered the consoles either unable to read newer discs or caused them to halt the console with an error code usually indicating a PIO/DMA identification failure, respectively. These units would not be covered under the extended warranty.

In 2002, Microsoft and NVIDIA entered arbitration over a dispute on the pricing of NVIDIA's chips for the Xbox. NVIDIA's filing with the SEC indicated that Microsoft was seeking a US$13 million discount on shipments for NVIDIA's fiscal year 2002. Additionally, Microsoft alleged violations of the agreement the two companies entered, sought reduced chipset pricing, and sought to ensure that NVIDIA fulfill Microsoft's chipset orders without limits on quantity. The matter was settled on February 6, 2003, and no terms of the settlement were released.

Central Xbox gaming units were manufactured in Hungary, while the controllers were manufactured primarily in Indonesia.

Technical specifications

Official accessories

Audio/video connectors

Numerous unofficial third-party cables and breakout boxes exist that provide combinations of outputs not found in these official video packages; however, with the exception of a few component-to-VGA converters and custom-built VGA boxes, the four official video packages represent all of the Xbox's possible outputs. This output selectivity is made possible by the Xbox's SCART-like AVIP port.

Networking

Multimedia

Controllers and removable storage

The Xbox controller features two analog sticks, a directional pad, two analog triggers, a White button, a Black button, a Back button, a Start button, two accessory slots and six 8-bit analog action buttons (A/Green, B/Red, X/Blue, Y/Yellow, Black).

The standard Xbox controller (also known as the Duke controller, originally the normal Xbox controller for all territories except Japan, has since been quietly discontinued and replaced in Xbox packs by the Controller S. The Duke controller designed for the American market was larger than the "Controller S" designed for the Japanese market and smaller hands. The Duke controller has been criticized for being relatively large and bulky compared to other video game controllers (it was awarded "Blunder of the Year" by Game Informer in 2001). The black and white buttons are located above the A, B, X, and Y buttons, and the Back/Start buttons are located between and below the d-pad and right analog stick. Also, the standard face buttons (A, B, X, and Y) were oriented in an oblong parallelogram rather than a uniform diamond, which was very unusual compared to other standard controllers.

The Controller S, a smaller, lighter Xbox controller was originally the standard Xbox controller only in Japan (codenamed "Akebono"). It was subsequently released in other territories by popular demand, and eventually replaced the standard controller in the Xbox's retail package. The white and black buttons are located below the A, B, X, and Y buttons, and the Back/Start buttons are similarly placed below the left analog stick. This controller has received its share of criticism as well, especially with regards to placement of the black/white and back/start buttons.

An 8 MB removable solid state memory card can be plugged into the controllers, onto which game saves can either be copied from the hard drive when in the Xbox dashboard's memory manager or saved during a game. Xbox saves are digitally signed, each console has a unique signing key, and many games (e.g., Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball) will not load saved games signed by a different Xbox, limiting the utility of the memory card. Additionally, game saves can be tagged as uncopyable, or simply padded to over 8 MB (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic). The signing mechanism has been reverse-engineered by the Xbox hacking community, who have developed tools to modify savegames to work in a different console, though the signing key of the recipient Xbox (the 'HDkey'), and the ramped-up title key of the game (the 'authkey'), must be known. It is also possible to save an Xbox Live account on a memory unit, to simplify its use on more than one Xbox.

Games

The Xbox launched in North America on November 15, 2001. The greatest success of the Xbox's launch titles was Halo: Combat Evolved which was well received by critics. Its sequel, Halo 2, is the best-selling first-generation Xbox game worldwide. Other successful launch titles included NFL Fever 2002, Project Gotham Racing and Dead or Alive 3. However, the failure of several first-party games (including Fuzion Frenzy and Azurik: Rise of Perathia) damaged the initial public reputation of the Xbox.

Although the console enjoyed strong third party support from its inception, many early Xbox games did not take full advantage of its powerful hardware, with few additional features or graphical improvements to distinguish them from the PS2 version, thus negating one of the Xbox's main selling points. Additionally, Sony countered the Xbox for a short time by temporarily securing PlayStation 2 exclusives for highly anticipated games such as the Grand Theft Auto series and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (although they were later ported to the Xbox and are no longer exclusive).

In 2002 and 2003, several releases helped the Xbox to gain momentum and distinguish itself from the PS2. The Xbox Live online service was launched in late 2002 alongside pilot titles MotoGP, MechAssault and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon. Several best-selling and critically acclaimed titles for the Xbox were published, such as Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Ninja Gaiden and LucasArts' Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Take-Two Interactive's exclusivity deal with Sony was amended to allow Grand Theft Auto III and its sequels to be published on the Xbox. In addition, many other publishers got into the trend of releasing the Xbox version alongside the PS2 version, instead of delaying it for months.

In 2004, Halo 2 set records as the highest-grossing release in entertainment history making over $125 million in its first day, as well as being a successful killer app for the online service. That year, Microsoft and Electronic Arts reached a deal that would see the latter's popular titles enabled on Xbox Live.

The last widely released game for the Xbox was Madden NFL 08, in August 2007. However Ratatouille was released exclusively in EBGames and Gamestop stores on 28th September 2007.

It is believed that a total of 948 commercial games were released for the Xbox during its lifespan.

Xbox Live

On November 15, 2002, Microsoft launched its Xbox Live online gaming service, allowing subscribers to play online Xbox games with (or against) other subscribers all around the world and download new content for their games to the system's hard drive. This online service works exclusively with a broadband Internet connection. Approximately 250,000 subscribers had signed up within two months of Xbox Live's launch. In July 2004, Microsoft announced that Xbox Live had reached one million subscribers, and a year later, in July 2005, that membership had reached two million.

Xbox modding

The popularity of the Xbox inspired efforts to circumvent the built-in hardware and software security mechanisms, a practice informally known as modding. The Xbox BIOS was dumped a few months after release, and hacked so it would skip digital signature checks and media flags, allowing unsigned code, Xbox game backups, etc., to be run. This is due to flaws in the Xbox's security. Modding an Xbox in any manner will void its warranty, as it may require disassembly of the console. Having a modified Xbox will also disallow it from accessing Xbox Live as it contravenes the Xbox Live Terms of Use, however most modchips can be disabled, allowing the Xbox to boot in a "stock" configuration, softmods can be disabled by "coldbooting" a game (having the game in the DVD drive before turning the console on, so the softmod is not loaded) or by using a multiboot configuration.

Four main methods exist of modding the Xbox:

Modchip: Installing a modchip inside the Xbox that bypasses the original BIOS, with a hacked BIOS to circumvent the security mechanisms.
TSOP Flashing: Re-flashing the onboard BIOS chip with a hacked BIOS to circumvent the security mechanisms. The Xbox BIOS is contained on a commodity EEPROM (the 'TSOP'), which can be made writable by the Xbox by bridging points on the motherboard. Flashing is usually carried out by using a specially crafted gamesave (see 'Game save exploit', below) to flash the onboard TSOP, but the TSOP can also be desoldered and rewritten in a standard EEPROM programmer. This method only works on 1.0 to 1.5 Xboxes, as later versions replace the commodity TSOP with an LPC ROM contained within a proprietary chip.
Softmods: Installing additional software files to the Xbox hard drive, which exploit programming errors in the Dashboard to gain control of the system, and overwrite the in-memory copy of the BIOS. Soft modification is known to be safe for Xbox Live if the user enables multibooting with the Microsoft dashboard and an original game disc is used.
- Game save exploit: Using select official game releases to load game saves that exploit buffer overflows in the save game handling. When these special game saves are loaded, they access an interface with scripts for installing the necessary softmod files. Disassembly of the Xbox is not required when installing most game save exploits.
- Hot swap: Using a computer to change the data on the hard drive. This requires having the Xbox unlock the hard drive when it is turned on, then swapping the hard drive into a running computer. From there it can be accessed by a special LiveCD. The user installs the softmod files directly to the Xbox hard drive. This technique has been used extensively to harbor cheating on many online games. Disassembly is required to install this softmod.

Beyond gaming, a modded Xbox can be used as a media center with the Xbox Media Center.

There are also distributions of Linux developed specifically for the Xbox, including those based on Gentoo, Debian (see also Xebian), Damn Small Linux, and Dyne:bolic.

Alternative operating systems: Xbox Linux is a project that ported Linux to the Xbox. FreeBSD has also been ported to Xbox.

One advantage over a regular, unmodded Xbox, is the ability to use Trainer (games).

UK advertising controversy

In 2002 the Independent Television Commission (ITC) banned a television advertisement for the Xbox in the United Kingdom after responses from certain members of the public deemed it distasteful. It depicted a mother giving birth to a boy who is fired like a projectile through the hospital window and ages rapidly as he flies through the air screaming, before crashing into his own grave. The advertisement ended with the slogan Life is short. Play more.

References

^ Gamers Catch Their Breath as Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Reinvent Next-Generation Gaming. Xbox.com (2006-05-10). Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
^ Chris Morris (2006-05-09). Grand Theft Auto, Halo 3 headed to Xbox 360. CNN. Retrieved on 2007-10-29.
^ ^a ^b Asher Moses (2007-08-30). Prepare for all-out war. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on 2008-02-02. “Combined, the first two Halo games have notched up sales of more than 14.5 million copies so far, about 8 million of which can be attributed to Halo 2, which is the best-selling first-generation Xbox game worldwide.”
^ St. John, Alex (August 2007, vol. 5, issue 8, pg. 14). DirectX 10th Anniversary. Computer Power User. Retrieved on 2007-09-30.
^ Cole, Vladimir (2005-09-26). Forbes: Xbox lost Microsoft $4 billion (and counting). Joystiq. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
^ Xbox: Description of custom soundtracks. Microsoft Knowledge Base (2007-04-25). Retrieved on 2008-01-13.
^ http://www.gamer20.com/features/150/4
^ Microsoft takes Nvidia to arbitration over pricing of Xbox processors. EE Times (2002-04-29). Retrieved on 2006-06-29.
^ Microsoft and Nvidia settle Xbox chip pricing dispute. EE Times (2003-02-06). Retrieved on 2006-06-29.
^ Inside Xbox 360 Controller.
^ http://archive.gamespy.com/hardware/march02/xboxcontrollers/
^ http://www.gamer20.com/features/150/4
^ Games of 2001. Game Informer (January 2002, pg. 48).
^ Ninja Beach Party. Official Xbox Magazine (October 2002, issue 11, pg. 44).
^ Final Sniper (2003-08-11). Xbox Controller S Review. TalkXbox. Retrieved on 2007-09-30.
^ Halo: Combat Evolved at Game Rankings
^ NFL Fever 2002: Summary. Game Rankings. Retrieved on 2007-09-30.
^ Project Gotham Racing: Summary accessdate=2007-09-30. Game Rankings.
^ Dead or Alive 3: Summary. Game Rankings. Retrieved on 2007-09-30.
^ Fuzion Frenzy: Summary. Game Rankings. Retrieved on 2007-09-30.
^ Azurik: Rise of Perathia: Summary. Game Rankings. Retrieved on 2007-09-30.
^ Becker, David (2004-11-10). 'Halo 2' clears record $125 million in first day. News.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-30.
^ Coleman, Stephen (2003-01-07). Xbox Live Subscriptions Double Expectations. IGN. Retrieved on 2007-09-30.
^ Steil, Michael (2007-04-02). The Hidden Boot Code of the Xbox. Xbox Linux. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
^ Xbox Live Terms of Use. Xbox.com (October 2006). Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
^ Rybka, Jason. Modchips - What Are They and Should You Use One?. About.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
^ SLuSHIE (2004-03-30). Flashing TSOP With ANY Version XBOX V1.0-V1.5 For Noobs. I-Hacked.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
^ Steil, Michael (2007-02-07). Xbox Hardware Overview – Xcalibur. Xbox Linux. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
^ Phoenix. Phoenix Bios Loader. Xbox-HQ.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
^ Kalviainen, Erik (2006-02-15). How to Go from Xbox to Xbox Media Center in 30 minutes. ProductWiki. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
^ Becker, David (2003-03-31). Hacker cracks Xbox challenge. News.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
^ Patrick Schmid and Achim Roos (2007-07-18). Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center. Tom's Hardware. Retrieved on 2004-05-11.
^ 'Shocking' Xbox advert banned. BBC News Online (2002-06-06). Retrieved on 2007-07-18.

External links

Microsoft Portal

Official Xbox/Xbox 360 website
Xbox at the Open Directory Project

v • d • e Video game products by Microsoft

Consoles	Xbox · Xbox 360

PC	Games for Windows

Games	Xbox games (Xbox Originals) · Xbox 360 games · Backward-compatible games · Platinum Hits · Xbox Live Arcade games · Games for Windows

Online services	Xbox Live (Arcade · Marketplace) · Games for Windows - Live · Live Anywhere

Peripherals	Xbox 360 accessories · HD DVD Player · Xbox Live Vision · Wireless Headset · Wireless Racing Wheel

Promotional	OurColony · Official Xbox Magazine · Xbox Exhibition · "X" Show · Xbox Rewards

Tools	Xbox Development Kit · Microsoft XNA

See also	Microsoft Game Studios · Xbox 360 launch · Xbox 360 technical problems

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Education and recognition	MCPs · MSDN · Technet · MSDNAA · MSCA · Microsoft Press · Microsoft MVP · Student Partners · Research · Studies related to Microsoft

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Legal issues	Alcatel-Lucent v. Microsoft · European Union Microsoft competition case · United States Microsoft antitrust case

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v • d • e Video game console history

First generation	Magnavox Odyssey • Philips Odyssey • Pong • Coleco Telstar • Nintendo Color TV Game

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